At the airport to Trinidad

I know I said that this blog was closed, but after half an hour of trying to figure out the password for my travel blog and then ten minutes of trying to figure out why I couldn't type anything in it, I figured that it was revolting so I decided to come here - old faithful never fails and I shall only say good things about this one.

It seems that airports and planes always make an interesting topic to share. I can't remember having a boring time flying. Maybe I did but it was too boring to remember. There was the time when y friend's luggage got left unattended and almost destroyed in Jamaica, only to be saved by an observant camper. Then there was the time these same observant campers and I almost got left in Barbados for liming - it seems a lot can change in a week. There was the time when I went to Trinidad and the guy couldn't find his passport and if it weren't for responsible adults he would have been left in Trinidad. And i don't have to mention the time when i got drilled at immigration because i looked too young to be flying alone. Then there'd was this.

The day started out fair to partly cloudy with a few brief scattered showers which turned to a thunderstorm by sunrise. I had gotten the day off from work and I spent most of the day sleeping since I had already packed the night before. I slept and lined until 2:30pm when I went to bathe and leave. I figured that I should check in online before anything so I went to the airline's site to check in. There was a link saying "check in now" and it lead me to a page which started "If you have checked in online please arrive with your boarding pass at least 45 minutes before departure." and it made mention of other stuff like baggage and assistance, etc. So I read it over and searched frantically for it. I ran in circles screaming frantically until 3:30. Daddy told me to calm down and that we will just check in there. Now I'm figuring that RedJet is a bus and buses in Barbados are ram off when they're ready. So I was expecting a long line of people and maybe even getting left at the airport. However, there was no calmness when dad realized that my sisters weren't ready to leave and it was almost 4!

Long story short, there was no line and by the time mom parked I had checked in and stuff. I went to use the ATM to take off some money for traveling but my parents said that I should just go and do it inside. We said our goodbyes and I went inside. Now please don't fault me for this but wouldn't you be scared if the security officer who searches you kept staring at you? And I don't mean "Oh she's so sexy" stare, I mean a "Processing...analyzing face and mannerisms...database searching" stare. I've always had bad run in with security even though I'm such a decent man. So when the officer came up to me and said that I looked familiar, a sigh of relief didn't come but more like a denial of identity.and then he didn't know me from church, which just made it worse.

I think I covered the entire departure lounge that day. First I couldn't find the bank and then when I found it I couldn't find the ATM. I finally found the ATM - which was by the security I tried to run from - and put my card in. "Transaction denied at your request." I thought I was going off whet I saw that so I put it in and right after I entered my pin the screen read "transaction denied at your request". Now this makes life worse! What's the point of working and saving if you can't access the money? Now I was about to cry. This is why you should honour your father and mother: I called my parents and after explaining the situation they comforted me by sending me money.

I met my friend Megan who was traveling with me, inside and as we waited I wondered where the plane was. But this all made sense now. The reason RedJet can fly for so low a cost is because they don't use planes! Well duh! Planes cost too much money so when we got into the "bus" 2 hours later we were in Trinidad!

The flying experience was not bad. It was very basic but it was smooth flying. Unfortunately, if one wasn't Caribbean one could not understand what the captain was saying. His accent was weird and his voice was slurred and it sounded like one long word being said with his tongue not moving. But fortunately I knew what to do in case of emergency.

And so we landed five minutes early and the half full plane was empty in no time. Now pilots really do have a speeding problem. I've never been on a flight that took longer than the estimated time, but I guess that's why it's flying. Immigration was another part of this story. I got in the line for CARICOM nationals and after about 20 minutes and meeting a girl from my math class I got to the desk.

"What kind of conference is this you're going to?", the lady asked. I explained it, along with the organization.
"So do you have any documentation?"
"Oh shoot!"…no!

iPads are pretty cool devices but what use can they be if you can't use them to search through three months of mail and hope that you didn't delete the e-mail with everything you needed to clear immigration? I learnt a valuable lesson that day - there's packing and there's getting ready for a trip. Fortunately, I had written down the number to the place where I was staying on a piece of paper which I stuck in my passport and by the grace of God I was saved from my insanity and irresponsibility and I cleared immigration. If any factor had changed I would have been in jail right now.

I have the worst phone in the world. Firstly, it has no back so the battery falls out ever so often and then I miss calls. Secondly the battery lasts two days and just cuts out. Thirdly, the phone only seems to pick up bajan networks! Gah! I would have bought a phone when I found out that but I had no money! So here I was in Trinidad with no money and no phone and since Megan was not a CARICOM national I left her in the line at immigration!oh the pain that went through my heart when I realized that I couldn't get a baked pork sub from subway!

Anyways I stood outside waiting for my ride. I didn't know who the person was because the name dad gave me is not who I know her as and the image I had in my head was not who came up to me and asked "Marcus? You don't recognize me?". Plus she lost weight since I last saw her and it was night time. People always look different at night, eg Princess Fiona. Megan finally came out laughing at me because I kept looking at her for salvation after she said I should have printed the info for the conference. We parted ways after that.

I did manage to salvage something from the trip when we went for pizza and I drank passion fruit mixed with grapefruit juice. For the first time I ate a lot of sweet peppers but everyone knew that I didn't like sweet peppers because I was the only one trying to pick them out without anyone noticing. But thankfully they were cut small enough to swallow whole with a little drink.

So I'm here safe and sound, sitting next to a treadmill that may be used by me one day, but not today. Apparently I look like my brother so much that people recognize it in the dark! But I'll take his advise and just "smile and wave" until it is over and who knows, maybe someone here will recognize me.